Wednesday, August 13, 2014

All for Laughs

This article was on my Facebook feed today, and I was outraged. The family thought it was funny to duct tape, yes I said duct tape, a baby's pacifier into her mouth. They said the baby was never in danger and the tape was removed right after the picture.

First off, why? Why do you feel the need to do something so stupid and then document it for all your friends and family to see? Are "normal" baby pictures not good enough anymore and you now feel the need to up the ante? What is this child going to think of you when she is 25?

Secondly, did you really think this through? You used duct tape which is an industrial strength product with a super strong adhesive. Men use this stuff to fix EVERYTHING! Even if you didn't press it down onto the baby's skin it obviously made contact. Now, I am an adult with sensitive skin and even the adhesive in bandages and first aid tape hurt to pull off and can cause contact dermatitis which can cause red bumps and painful blisters. I can't imagine pulling duct tape off the thin sensitive skin of a baby had to feel very good.

Let's also talk about safety. Sure the nose wasn't 100% blocked, but it doesn't look like it's exactly 100% clear either. And we all know babies are little booger factories. If her little nose was the least bit congested that could have made for some difficult breathing. Also, babies are notorious for upchucking at the most inopportune times. What would have happened if this little darling all of a sudden decided to reject her last meal and it had no where to go? It could have easily gotten into her lungs causing serious illness or even death.

So while we all want adorable photos of our kids. Maybe sometimes it's best to just keep the camera ready and let the kids produce the cute all on their own. I fear our societal turn towards documenting and sharing every bit of our children's lives and having so many of the really cute ones going "viral" has led us to feel like we need to manufacture cute. Let the kids be kids and leave the duct tape in the tool box.